When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.
– Luke 22:14-23
There are meals. There are religious observances. There are meals that are religious observances. Among those is the Passover, a religious observance among Jews that has been celebrated for centuries, even long before Jesus walked the earth. Jesus and his friends participated in this observance. Of all the Passovers they had celebrated previously, the one referenced in this passage would stand out above all the others. For in this meal, Jesus would not only call his friends to remember the historic acts of God, but would also (and more importantly) give them a framework for the events that were about to happen.
There are two safe conclusions we can reach regarding the meaning of the meal as understood by Jesus’ friends. First, there is a recollection of God’s deliverance of their ancestors from Egypt. With a mighty hand, God set Abraham’s descendants free from slavery. The meal recalled the urgency and bitterness experienced by the people of that generation. Second, there was a sense of expectation that God would act on their behalf again, establishing a messianic age when all humanity would bow in honor of Yahweh, and the world would experience peace and justice. Jesus’ words “I will not eat it again” and “I will not drink it again” must have heightened their attention, perhaps suggesting that the messianic kingdom would soon be at hand.
In a sense, it would be soon. What the friends did not yet understand was exactly how that kingdom would come to be established, and exactly how Jesus would inaugurate that kingdom. Jesus gave them a picture of this when he said to them, “This is my body, given for you,” and “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.” His body? His blood? This was not part of the traditional liturgy. It must have sounded odd and disconcerting to the friends.
If I could suggest a paraphrase of what Jesus was saying, it might be something like this. “Tonight is the last time I will celebrate this traditional meal. For all of our lives we have celebrated the mighty acts of God in grateful remembrance and joyful anticipation. But the time has now come when God is fulfilling what is required for our greatest hopes to become reality. I am telling you now so you will understand later. Otherwise the events of the next few hours and days will overwhelm you and leave you confused. From now on, anytime you share this meal, you will do so with new and clear understanding of God’s redemptive plan.”
In Jewish tradition there is a part of the Passover Haggadah called “Dayenu.” The word in Hebrew means, “it would have been enough.” It is a poem or song that has been used in the Jewish Passover observance for many years. I don’t know of evidence that it was used in Jesus’ time, although it is possible as far as I know. The song celebrates the “more than enough” acts of God’s goodness toward his people, beginning with their deliverance from the land of Egypt and ending with the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. All through the song the people confess in progressive fashion, “If you had done this, and not done the next—it would have been enough.” You and I can think of how powerful that would be. It rehearses before us how repeatedly God has worked on behalf of his people, and inspires us to see all of those acts as “more than enough” for us to pledge our allegiance to Yahweh.
In a way, what Jesus was telling his friends that night is that all of these mighty acts of God were not enough. Why? Because all of the acts mentioned in the Dayenu were only a precursor, a picture of what the real, cosmic work of God’s redemption would look like. What would be required to accomplish that redemption had not yet happened—not until that night. Jesus made sure his friends understood that, after the events of the next 72 hours, it truly would be enough. There would be nothing else required to provide for the redemption of humanity. The only thing remaining would be anticipating the day when Jesus breaks bread and shares the cup with all of his brothers and sisters in the glorious Kingdom.
The “most memorable meal” they shared that night took on new meaning. Even today as we gather for the meal, we are invited to remember and be in communion with the One who did enough to bring us into fellowship with God. Just as Jesus shared himself in the bread and cup of that meal long ago, so does he share himself today with those who come to his table. In coming, may we find grace for today and hope for eternity.
The Winding Path 